This morning after cleaning up the dog barf on the living room carpet, Terry and I went to Salmon Falls Studios in Rollinsford for their open studios. We both found a couple of things we liked and I was such a dunderhead that I forgot to get cards and can't show you. For me there was a water colorist who painted whimsical without being obnoxiously whimsical bright big pictures and a guy who did sculpture and photography. Terry liked them and was travelling faster so saw a few others he liked as well. We travel separately because while I like to at least look from the doorway, Terry slows down at the doorway and senses the vibes in the room or maybe uses his sixth sense to decide if it's a room he wants to go in and moves on if he doesn't like it. He cannot stand being in studios with work he doesn't like. It's best for us to view things separately. We went early on Sunday which was less crowded, but maybe not all of the open studios were open. There were definitely fewer than previous years and some of our favorites were missing.
Then we came home, fed the dog and I took a nap. What's your favorite sound to wake to? If you said the sound of the dog barfing on the carpet, you would have enjoyed this afternoon at my house. There were two more episodes before I started calling people for advice. Of course, my worst worry, since Maggie eats a lot of whatever she finds in the woods with her friends was that she had eaten something; it was stuck and she would require surgery to move it out. How long can a dog lie around with an obstruction before it's an emergency? It was Sunday afternoon. Could she wait til Monday when the regular (and regular priced vet) comes back on duty? If I waited for the regular vet on Monday, was I risking a visit to the emergency vet in the middle of the night instead? Her vet was closed with the phone advice of "go to the emergency vet." I started calling around to my friends: one didn't know; one was at a conference and not answering her phone; yet another didn't answer; Terry, overwhelmed by medical emergencies (and he agreed to get Maggie only if she was not his dog in any way shape or form unless he wanted and he has been so gracious about taking care of her while I've been sick) deferred. Finally, I called Kate who knew (why it didn't occur to me to call the woman with four golden retrievers sooner I don't know). She said that in the morning, she could be too dried out and we should go now if only to get fluids (she said it much more direly than that--certainly got my attention). We went.
The emergency vet was very kind and surprisingly quick. However there was some waiting and while it was going on, all of a sudden, Maggie's belly started with the loudest borborygmi I have ever heard (for my non-medical friends, that's the fancy word for the noises your stomach makes when it "growls"). The vet said her xray looked non-obstructed (hooray) and that there was a lot of stool in there and even more gas lined up behind it. She said there was probably impressive diarrhea on the way. The vet gave her half a liter of fluid under her skin in the back of her neck, some pepcid and a doggie anti-emetic that works by blocking substance P in the doggie nausea center (whoa!). We went home with a bottle of flagyl because the vet's best guess is that Maggie got into something (that's mah girl) and now has a bacterial intestinal infection of some sort. The way I put it all together is obstrution that spontaneously moved. I am really, really hoping it moved all the way down. Yick.
Since she's been home, she's been sleeping very very soundly. It's funny because normally, I'd be very happy to see the dog asleep so deeply, but I'm so worried about her, that I keep waking her up to check on her. The vet said she is probably finally able to sleep now that the anti-emetic has taken effect and she has some relief so try not to worry. OK, good luck to me with that.
Don't you think that's enough for one day? I do and have no further exploits to tell you about.
Well, for once, tonight's wish for me has nothing to do with my body. I am going to wish that Maggie gets well without massive diarrhea, especially diarrhea during my sleeping hours. For you, I'm not sure. My first thought is to wish that your pets all have more sense than my little idiot, but that's not a very good (or kind to Maggie) wish. Perhaps I'll wish good health for all your pets. If you don't have a pet, perhaps you know one to pass the wish on to?
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